The May Report: 4/29/2010: How to build Billion dollar industries in Chicago: A Cluster of Innovation: How Chicago’s Trading Community Remade Global Market Making; IPRO awards; Final Call for entries for MIT-EF’s White Board Challenge
April 29, 2010
The May Report: 4/29/2010: How to build Billion dollar industries in Chicago: A
Cluster of Innovation: How Chicago’s Trading Community Remade Global Market
Making; IPRO awards; Final Call for entries for MIT-EF’s White Board Challenge
Editor and publisher: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com,
www.themayreport.com , 773-525-3944.
If you missed an article, go here:
www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/vwFullNewsletter
_________________________________________
*******************************
Workshops at Web Content 2010 Chicago Conference
Choose from Four ½ -day web content strategy workshops plus a full day of
breakout sessions at the fourth annual Web Content 2010 Chicago, June 7-8 at
the Gleacher Executive Conference Center. www.webcontent2010.com
Workshops Include:
Kristina Halvorson on Content Strategy
Seth Earley – Using Taxonomies to Improve Search
Matt Morse – Use Sharepoint to Power your Internet Site
Expert Panel – Web Enablement with Drupal for Non-Profits & Small Business
Register at bit.ly/WebContentRegister
********************************
___________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Scoop section:
— Avery Cohen: April’s MIT-Enterprise Forum: “A Chicago Innovation Cluster:
Trading and Technology Growth”
— IPRO Day Awards
— MIT EF Chicago FINAL CALL for Entries: Your Idea. Five Minutes. $5,000 in
Cash Prizes
— mPayy Adds Tournament Games to its Payment Network
— Tarkus Murphy: Gives some historical perspective on the information
infrastructure and responds to Ron’s snarky remark
— Gerald Murphy: Bioenergy Days and Acciona (on Wacker Drive), maker and
operator of wind farms, based in Spain
____________________________
*********************************************
You’re Invited To the 2010 CMS Expo
CMS Expo Learning & Business Conference
May 3rd, 4th and 5th, 2010
Hotel Orrington
Evanston, IL
3 Full Days of Training. 7 Tracks. Over 90 Sessions!
Featured Open Source CMSes:
– Drupal
– Joomla!
– Plone
– WordPress
– eZ Publish
Come Learn From Great Innovators and Founders:
Dries Buytaert, Alex Limi, Alan Runyan, Ryan Ozimek, Mitch Pirtle, Arje Cahn,
Chris Coyier, Tony White, Tom Canavan, Merav Knafu – over 50 printers coming to
CMS Expo from around the world. Ars Logica will unveil their long-anticipated
study of the top CMSes on the planet. Plus, full 3 days of web business
learning sessions, hosted by Avery Cohen – all in the 4-Star Hotel Orrington,
for great food and impeccable service.
Sign up: cmsx.us $279 / day or $779 for all 3 days
Diamond Sponsors: Arc Technology Group and Rochen Performance Hosting
Hosted by the CMS Association
*******************************************************
___________________________________
*******************************************************
Guys Night Out for the Kids
Benefitting the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center
Friday, May 7, 2010 5pm-9pm
Carmichaels Chicago Steak House, 1052 W. Monroe
About Guys Night Out
Don’t miss the chance to hang with “the guys” on Friday, May 7 at Carmichael’s
for the 3rd Annual Guys Night Out for the Kids presented by US Cellular. The
event kicks-off with an outdoor Happy Hour in the courtyard followed by an
indoor barbeque, games, golf pros, hand-rolled cigars and celebrity athlete
appearances. There will be a live auction featuring unique items such as a VIP
package to a White Sox game including batting practice on the field or a suite
to a 2010 Bears game.
The evening is being hosted by Mully and Hanley from 670AM The Score, and all
proceeds benefit the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center (CCAC) for abused
children. Founded by Mayor Daley, the CCAC has served over 19,000 abused
children and their families since opening its doors in August 2001.
Details
Date: Friday, May 7, 2010
Where: Carmichael’s Steak House, 1052 W. Monroe
Time: 5pm-6pm Outdoor Happy Hour in the Courtyard
6pm-9pm – Party inside!
Tickets In Advance: $100 5pm-9pm (includes Happy Hour); $75 6pm-9pm
To Purchase Tickets: www.guysnightoutforthekids.org
Current Sponsors:
U.S. Cellular, Cameron Venture Partners, CA, Continental Resources, Huen
Electric, Labor Management Cooperation Committee of Chicago/IBEW, Northern
Trust Corporation, ComEd, Illinois Medical District, Midwest Generation, Sidley
Austin LLP/Partners of Sidley Austin, Johnson & Krol, LLC, Loop Capital,
Bombardier, CDW, Brown-Forman, Goose Island Beer Company and Vienna Beef
For More Information: www.chicagocac.org; 312.492.3720 Melissa Siemasz
************************************************
_________________________________
The Scoop section:
_________________________
Avery Cohen: April’s MIT-Enterprise Forum: “A Chicago Innovation Cluster:
Trading and Technology Growth”
Subject: April’s MIT-Enterprise Forum: “A Chicago Innovation Cluster: Trading
and Technology Growth”
Date: 4/28/2010 5:59:46 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: AveryCohen@Metrist.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com
MIT-Enterprise Forum, Tuesday, April 20, 2010
The CME Group Technology Ecosystem: A Chicago Innovation Cluster
April’s MIT-EF meeting was a fascinating exploration of how Chicago has been
growing a “cluster of innovation” around the commodity trading financial
centers of the CME Group. Moderator Scott Oldach, President of The Patent
Board, unfolded the structures and requirements for a new “technology
innovation cluster” to emerge and flourish. By the end of the evening, he had
revealed opportunities that surround Chicago’s powerful trading centers and how
entrepreneurs have become a part of this developing “cluster” community.
Unfortunately, the discussion of the evening leaned heavily on understanding
what is happening with the exchanges. Judging by empty seats, a third or more
of the audience had left before the picture became clear. Let’s see if I can
add a little more light.
Chicago as “an Environment of Intense Innovation”
Through a series of questions, Oldarch described the conditions that create “an
environment of intense innovation” and what it takes to “develop an economic
system” to support that environment. One example of an “innovation cluster” in
the Chicago area centered around telecommunications with Motorola and Tellabs
at the core. The power of that cluster has waned. The evidence of this is not
just in jobs, but also by the production of new patents. There is another local
innovation cluster in the area of energy technology, with Argonne Labs at its
center.
The panel consisted of leaders of four organizations, each of which represented
a “layer” of the companies that are emerging as the exchanges evolve away from
the historical “open outcry” system toward 24-hour instantaneous electronic
trading. This trading is managed by computers implementing complex trading
strategies that make decisions in fractions of seconds, interpreting data from
diverse sources. Taken together, these organizations and the traders they
serve form the “ecosystem” of the innovation cluster.
The Core Institution: CME Group – Leading Commodities Exchanges
The trading floors of the CME Group exchanges are the center around which this
innovation revolves. And while there are still traders in the pits at Chicago’s
commodity exchanges, the real action is taking place in the CME Group server
farms. The Chicago-based exchanges have been leaders in the shift to
electronic trading as well in offering innovative “products” to trade. Panel
member Stephen Goldman is director of Enterprise Architecture at the CME Group.
Conduits to the Exchanges: Clearing Houses and Brokerages
Mike Dennis is from Advantage Futures, a clearing house brokerage that provides
access to the exchange. In today’s environment, brokers need to provide their
customers near instant access to the exchange, as trades are managed by
computer programs and orders to buy and sell may occur within fractions of
seconds. Dennis described their job is to “eliminate latency and add redundancy
for electronic traders. Advantage Futures strengths are in advanced technology
and client service.
Support Technology: Platforms for Developing and Executing Trading Strategies
Michael Burns, President of eExchange Connectivity and VP of R&D at Trading
Technologies. Trading Technologies provides a trading platform used by brokers
and traders so that they can design, implement, and execute trading strategies
in the modern electronic markets.
Information: Historical Trading and Market Data
Anthony Kolton founded LIM, providing historical trading data to traders and
firms for developing and testing their complex trading strategies. Kolton
founded the company over twenty years ago and recently sold LIM to
Chicago-based Morningstar. Now Kolton is investing in ventures outside the
financial markets.
Competition and Continual Change Require an “Innovation Cluster”
The trading strategies of commodity traders, including individuals and
institutions, are becoming more complex. The exchanges trade not only
commodities like gold, wheat, and soybeans, they trade foreign exchange and
stock futures, Eurodollars, stock indicies and other derivative securities.
These complex instruments require substantial data and computing resources to
establish a strategy for trading value.
And as the markets transition to become more automated, there are opportunities
to take advantage of small gaps in information availability. These gaps create
“trading latency” – time between when changes in market price of a commodity
happen in the system and when people or systems are able to act on that change.
There is a lot of money to be made if your computers are faster than those of
other traders. Thus, the traders have become major consumers of information
services, trading services, platforms for creating and testing trading
strategies, services from quantitative analysts and computer programmers, and
state-of-the-art computer hardware.
To meet the demand of this “innovation cluster,” local universities are
beginning to train Quantitative Analysts (“quants”) who understand how to
create baskets of derivatives and trading strategies. But these university
programs trail the innovation that is taking place in the trading
organizations. The innovators don’t come out of universities – the innovators
emerge from the changing technical environment.
Entrepreneurs Emerge
Kolton shared the story of how he founded LIM – Logical Information Machines.
In the late 1980′s, Kolton was a floor trader in the IBM futures pit who knew
how hard it was to get historical trading data to test trends and “what-if”
scenarios to better understand the markets. He had a friend with technology for
collecting and evaluating historical trading data. Kolton’s partner came out of
Bell Labs – part of Chicago’s telecommunications innovation cluster. With roots
in Austin, TX (university and Sun Microsystems), Kolton and his partner located
their technical arm in Austin’s technology incubator in the late 1980′s. There
was no comparable incubator system in Chicago at that time.
(In fact, shortly after Kolton returned to Chicago from his Austin visit, he
ran into the person who had run Austin’s incubator. He had been brought to
Chicago to help develop technology businesses. Unfortunately, he had no budget
and no facilities to offer Kolton’s group, so they remained in Austin, where
their technology group is still located. LIM’s headquarters and their core
customers are in Chicago, but not the technology staff.)
Kolton’s mantra for the evening: “talk to your customers!” He started with an
idea for a data service and handed out two hundred surveys to floor traders.
They answered questions about what historical information they would be
interested in having and, most importantly, if they would be willing to pay for
it. Kolton said that having been a trader himself and spending lots of time
with customers has helped him continually improve LIM’s products.
Another important point Kolton made, his other big edge, was that “in about two
minutes,” he was able to “tell people how our products could make them money.”
Competitors spent time talking about technology and features. Kolton came from
the customer’s world and stayed relevant to his customer.
When Oldach asked how people decided whom to work with, Kolton described how he
worked in the IBM pit “with 150 other guys.” They would “schmooze” and develop
informal ties at work and after trading hours. “I was amazed how much help I
got from the community.” Kolton also learned a lot from presenting his
business plan to an entrepreneurs group at the Union League Club.
“It’s hard to sell something to a trader if you don’t know the lingo and can’t
tell them in two minutes how they can get money.” He pointed out that Bloomberg
was a trader. “I couldn’t imagine a non-trader coming up with a product for
traders. Burns agreed, “Talking to traders about what their problems are, you
have be one to give a rational explanation for what’s going on.”
Exit Capital Attracts Investment Capital
LIM is now part of financial information powerhouse Morningstar. Kolton and
Oldach pointed out that another aspect of “innovation clusters” is the ability
to exit an entrepreneurial investment. Morningstar has purchased some twenty
companies in the last year and a half.
Need for Speed
The speed and volume of transactions in the electronic markets pushes traders
to want speed and is driving toward “zero latency” in communications and
trading. Chicago has the biggest exchanges and was an early mover in the
electronic space with Globex. Goldman explained that Globex had an open API,
so a lot of companies could become software providers. Vendors in the space
“helped grow the customer base and help grow software providers.”
Kolton said that traders originally wanted monthly data, then weekly, daily and
now want trading history down to thousandths of seconds. Burns said that today,
traders are “winning because they’ve been winning the war on speed.” As speed
and time-to-trade approaches zero, that advantage will swing back to the
traders with the best trading strategies. This competition keeps all actors in
the ecosystem innovating. Burns’ company keeps up with server technology and
works with hardware vendors to customize servers with components most suited to
the trading environment.
Partners in the Innovation Cluster Ecosystem
Burns went on to say that Advantage Futures sells software that brokers and
traders use along with their own software. Kolton described how Enron was one
of his largest customers. “They took the product to a whole new level. They
were great to work with; they wanted an edge.”
Goldman talked about how the CME Group is working with Latin American exchanges
to come up with new matching products. Dennis said that they work with client
firms to create custom hardware systems. Kolton told the story of Sun
Microsystems letting him use their downtown Chicago offices for meetings when
he was starting up.
Oldach asked if there is an “anchor innovator” in the innovation ecosystem.
Goldman replied that for high-speed trading systems, there are a couple of
leaders that everyone tries to chase, to figure out what they are doing to get
an edge. A few leaders have a lot to do with the innovation. Another factor,
“someone changes jobs and the whole ecosystem starts to grow.”
Training and Talent
When Kolton started LIM in 1988, he received support from the incubator program
in Austin, Texas. There were no such programs in Chicago at the time. “We
didn’t have enough support in Chicago.” When Kolton sold LIM to Morningstar,
they had 80 people in Austin and ten in Chicago.
Today, there are several incubator programs in Chicago, and MIT-EF participants
(including Nik Rokop of IIT) plugged this week’s IIT Innovation Fair and
NUvation Awards.
The panelists said that university programs are lagging in producing people
trained in the skill sets required by trading firms. They talked about an
emerging program by a Prof. LeBlanc at Tulane, who sponsors trading
competitions for college students. Several panelists support these competitions.
The panel was mixed in their reaction to question about whether government
support would help spur new innovation in this field.
An interesting contradiction arose when Oldach asked about how their
organizations measure success. At first, the response was: “does this make
money?” However, under further discussion, they all agreed that you can’t
succeed without risk and by the nature of risk, you will fail sometimes. The
CME Group has introduced several products that required a champion or a group
of champions in the organization to keep the product alive. These included
Globex, which got off to a very slow start and now dominates the exchange, and
slow acceptance for trading in Eurodollar Contracts which are now flagship
products for the exchange. While a former star product, Bond Future Contracts
now have very little trading as there is no interest rate risk.
Can You Create a Local Innovation System?
Now that we have explored the characteristics of the Innovation Cluster around
the Chicago exchanges, Oldach asked “If I wanted to build a Local Innovation
System around an area, say Supply Chain Management, what would you recommend I
do?”
Goldman said “Look for really good subject matter experts. I would spend a
couple of years working on ideas and getting through stages of development.”
Dennis said, “Work closely with the community you will be serving.” Kolton
echoed this, “Get a potential customer and keep showing up and showing it
[prototype systems] to them. Ask ‘What would it take for you to buy it?’ That
way you don’t waste a year or two of development being all enamored with your
product or technology and expect everybody else will want to buy it.” Everyone
agreed that up-front customer involvement is critical for success.
The biggest factors that lead to Chicago being the locale of the “innovation
cluster” around trading technologies include: 1) the strength and size of the
Chicago Mercantile Exchange and CBOE and 2) Chicago’s strong telecommunications
infrastructure in the late 1980′s and 90′s. Goldman said that the Globex
network was able to thrive because of the telecommunications infrastructure,
and that it has had the biggest impact in the race to low latency electronic
trading.
Oldach listed the top Chicago-based patent recipients in the space: Trading
Technologies, CME Group, CBOE, Rosenthal Collins Group, and the Chicago Climate
Exchange.
As always, feel free to contact me – avery.cohen@metristpartners.com – if you
have any questions or corrections.
Avery.
——————-
Avery J. Cohen
Principal
Metrist Partners
www.metrist.com
phone: 312.772.5945 | skype: averycohen
linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/averycohen | twitter: @averycohen
__________________________________________
IPRO Day Awards
Subject: IPRO Day Awards
Date: 4/28/2010 10:57:00 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: keplinger@iit.edu
To: ronaldmay@aol.com
Hello Ron:
Here’s a list of the IPRO Day awards:
OUTSTANDING IPRO FACULTY AWARD
Steve Beck, IPRO 357: Green Building Design: Oak Park Team I
IPRO TEAM LEADERSHIP AWARD
Kevin O’Leary, Sonya Petty and Kenneth Schliech, IPRO 314: Interactive
Landmarks for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Walk
Konrad Kawa and Jason Stogner, IPRO 350: Smart Specs: Binoculars for Civilian
and Military Use
Bryan Zacharias, IPRO 357: Green Building Design: Oak Park Team I
BEST TEAMS OVERALL
Track 1 – Applied Research & Development
341: Product Design, Test and Market Development
348: Silver Nanorods as Indicators of Thermal History
349: Fuel Cells for Unmanned Undersea Vehicles
Track 2 – Information Technology Solutions
318: Zoo Tech
305: Trailer Loading Optimization Planning Tool
303: Innovative Mobile Mapping Solutions
Track 3 – Sustainability I
302: Renewable Technologies for the Chicago Electric Grid
336: Planning the 21st Century Urban Farm
317: Nana – a Sustainable Restaurant Development
Track 4 – Sustainability II
322: Carbon Footprint of Automobiles
331: Global Warming Outreach
347: Production of Biodiesel from Renewable Resources
Track 5 – Service Learning
314: Interactive Landmarks for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Walk
310: Assistive Devices for Blind Swimmers
309: Orthotics & Prosthetics for Latin America
Track 6 – Process Improvement
304: Integration of Process Improvements
306: Improving Global Supply Chain Management
307: Intermodal Container Facility Solutions for Chicago
Track 7 – Venture Development I
357: Green Building Design: Oak Park Team I
351: Combating Underage Drinking & Driving
360: Green Building Design: Oak Park Team II
Track 8 – Venture Development II
Auburn University
358: Product Development & Business Planning for a Fishing Innovation
356: Design of a Large Scale System: Michael Reese Site Team II
BEST EXHIBIT
Track 1 – Applied Research, Development & Planning
348: Silver Nanorods as Indicators of Thermal History
341: Product Design, Test and Market Development
324: Power Measurement for Road Bikes
Track 2 – Information Technology Solutions
318: Zoo Tech
321: Developing an Online Student Research Forum
303: Innovative Mobile Mapping Solutions
Track 3 – Sustainability I
336: Planning the 21st Century Urban Farm
302: Renewable Technologies for the Chicago Electric Grid
317: Nana – A Sustainable Restaurant Development
Track 4 – Sustainability II
322: Carbon Footprint of Automobiles
313: Refuelable Electric Cars
331: Global Warming Outreach
Track 5 – Service Learning
310: Assistive Devices for Blind Swimmers
309: Orthotics & Prosthetics Education for Latin America
314: Interactive Urban Landmarks for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Walk
Track 6 – Process Improvement
306: Improving Global Supply Chain Management
304: Integration of Process Improvements
345: Improving Food Processing
Track 7 – Venture Development I
357: Green Building Design: Oak Park Team I
351: Combating Underage Drinking and Driving
355: Acara Challenge
Track 8 – Venture Development II
358: Product Development & Business Planning for a Fishing Innovation
Auburn University
350: Smart Specs
BEST PRESENTATION
Track 1 – Applied Research, Development & Planning
341: Product Design, Test and Market Development
348: Silver Nanorods as Indicators of Thermal History
349: Fuel Cells for Unmanned Undersea Vehicles
Track 2 – Information Technology Solutions
318: Zoo Tech
305: Trailer Loading Optimization Planning Tool
303: Innovative Mobile Mapping Solutions
Track 3 – Sustainability I
302: Renewable Technologies for the Chicago Electric Grid
336: Planning the 21st Century Urban Farm
317: Nana – a Sustainable Restaurant Development
Track 4 – Sustainability II
347: Production of Biodiesel from Renewable Resources
331: Global Warming Outreach
322: Carbon Footprint of Automobiles
Track 5 – Service Learning
314: Interactive Landmarks for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Walk
310: Assistive Devices for Blind Swimmers
309: Orthotics & Prosthetics for Latin America
Track 6 – Process Improvement
307: Intermodal Container Facility Solutions for Chicago
304: Integration of Process Improvements
338: Improving Electrical Efficiency with BIM
Track 7 – Venture Development I
360: Green Building Design: Oak Park Team I
353: FabLab
351: Combating Underage Drinking and Driving
Track 8 – Venture Development II
356: Design of a Large Scale System: Michael Reese Site Team II
Auburn University
350: SmartSpecs
Jennifer Keplinger
Program Coordinator
Interprofessional Projects (IPRO) Program
Illinois Institute of Technology
P 312.567.3940
F 312.567.3950
keplinger@iit.edu
Next time you buy coffee, consider buying high quality coffee from Crop to Cup.
A percentage of their proceeds are donated to a team of students from IIT who
are working to improve the quality of life for coffee farmers in Uganda when
you use the promo code “IPRO333″. www.croptocup.com
_____________________________________________
MIT EF Chicago FINAL CALL for Entries: Your Idea. Five Minutes. $5,000 in Cash
Prizes
From: “MIT Enterprise Forum of Chicago” collin@canrightcommunications.com
Sender: mailer@mail2.clubexpress.com
Subject: MIT EF Chicago FINAL CALL for Entries: Your Idea. Five Minutes. $5,000
in Cash Prizes.
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:29:40 -0500
To: ron@themayreport.com
MITEF Logo
The Global Entrepreneurial Network: Connect. Inspire. Succeed.
Your Idea. Five Minutes. $5,000 in Cash Prizes.
Our Host Sponsor
Membership
For information on
becoming a member:
For information on
becoming a volunteer:
Join Our Mailing List
Our Sponsors
2010 Whiteboard Challenge Call for Entries
Are you an entrepreneur with a product concept that just needs some recognition
to take off?
Are you a scientist or researcher at a university or corporation with a
world-changing technology?
Have you been inspired by a novel way to solve a big problem?
If you have a brilliant idea (or know someone who does) that is missing
much-needed public recognition, plan to join us at the MIT Enterprise Forum
Chicago 2010 Whiteboard Challenge on the evening of Wednesday May 26, 2010.
Each finalist will have five minutes, a whiteboard, a captive audience, and a
chance to win $5,000 in cash prizes. This event is the highlight of the MIT EF
Chicago spring event season?don?t miss your opportunity to be in the spotlight!
Everyone is eligible to submit their own innovative concept for consideration,
and presenting finalists will be selected by a distinguished panel of judges.
FINAL CALL. Presenter applications due MAY 3!
To submit an entry, click here to fill in the submission form.
www.surveymonkey.com/s/BXDCGFD
____________________________________________
mPayy Adds Tournament Games to its Payment Network
From: “Emily Shirden” shirdene@RuderFinn.com
Subject: mPayy Adds Tournament Games to its Payment Network
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:08:10 -0400
To: ron@themayreport.com
Ronald
mPayy, a Chicago-based alternative payments leader, today announced the launch
of Tournament Games, www.tournamentgames.com, onto its payment network.
Tournament Games utilizes mPayy’s lightbox ‘Checkout Window’ for seamless
customer experience to purchase credits directly from the company’s site.
For more information, please see the below release – or read it online. To
coordinate an interview or gain additional insights into this partnership,
please contact me at 312-329-3979 or shirdene@ruderfinn.com.
Best,
Emily Shirden
for mPayy
emily shirden | account supervisor | p 312 329 3979 | m 773 837 0164 | f 866
506 5203
R U D E R · F I N N | 211 east ontario, suite 1600 | chicago, illinois 60611
mPayy Adds Tournament Games to its Payment Network
Expands its Position in Online Gaming & Micropayments
CHICAGO- (April 28, 2010)- mPayy, an alternative payments leader, today
announced the launch of Tournament Games, www.tournamentgames.com, onto its
payment network. Tournament Games utilizes mPayy’s lightbox ‘Checkout Window’
for seamless customer experience to purchase credits directly from the
company’s site.
“We’re very excited to add Tournament Games,” stated Kimberley Lewis, VP of
Business Development, who will attend the LA Games Conference. “mPayy’s simple,
secure way to pay is a great option for adding new gamers and simplifying
credit purchases.”
Tournament Games players participate in skill game tournaments played for free,
or in tournaments offering cash prizes that require credits. Entry fees range
from $0.02 in credits to a couple of dollars, and Tournament Games sells
credits in $5.00 increments.
“We chose mPayy for their attractive pricing, and simple, integrated checkout,”
said James Pearson, CEO of Tournament Games. “We think this will add value to
our customers and look forward to mPayy’s members playing our games.”
When buying credits, players choose mPayy, specify the amount, and click
“Purchase.” mPayy members then enter their mobile phone number + password to
complete the purchase. Non-members will be prompted to open accounts instantly,
and return to the checkout page to complete their transaction.
mPayy allows Tournament Games players without checking accounts to receive
funds into free, no fee, Stored Value accounts from other mPayy members. These
can be used for purchases from Tournament Games or other online merchants
accepting mPayy.
About mPayy, Inc.
mPayy is a secure online and mobile payment platform enabling merchant and bill
payment processing for any sized business, plus quick and simple checkout for
buyers. The company’s highly scalable platform improves margins by eliminating
fraud and reducing transaction costs. mPayy’s efficient service enables
profitable micro-payments; easy, secure purchases of digital content and
physical goods; flexible recurring and subscription payments and free
person-to-person payments. For more information, please visit www.mpayy.com or
follow mPayy on Twitter @mpayy.
About Tournament Games
Started in 1997, Tournament Games offers free and paid skill games to its
customers. Tournament Games customers download a console that runs directly on
their desktops and provides access to an assortment of games. Always secure and
virus free, Tournament Games prides itself on its loyal customer base and
commitment to serving those customers.
_______________________________________
Tarkus Murphy: Gives some historical perspective on the information
infrastructure and responds to Ron’s snarky remark
Subject: Tarkus Murphy: Information Superglacier(TM) now a national model?
Date: 4/29/2010 3:50:25 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: tarkus@ripco.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, RONALDMAY@aol.com
CC: tarkus@ripco.com
[Editor's note: Tarkus, does anyone read this stuff other than Layton Olson,
Don Samuelson, Charles Benton and Bruce Montgomery?]
Sure Ron,
Right off the top of my head, I would add Jim Baller, Jim Carlini, and a group
of other people who realize that Infrastructure improvements, anywhere can be
brought to Illinois and used for the development of the Illinois Decade. You
may recall that your own Report has covered items from Project NEST, Civic Net,
Tri-Cities, Fiber for Our Future, and many other issues. Several of the
initiatives faced carrier opposition, just as we have. One benefit on the
Information Superglacier(TM) is that the local carriers were participants, not
opponents of the process in the development of infrastructure in Upstate, NY.
The move towards an advanced fiber optic infrastructure was first fought and
then adopted by an area Local Exchange Carrier (LEC). We now have the ability
to connect from the County and LEC fiber directly to National Lambda Rail which
connects to Illinois, and has roots in the Star TAP & StarLight projects from
earlier initiatives out of the Network Access Point (NAP) in Chicago.
Most of the new businesses and people with whom we do business realize that
they must immediately consider the development of a business strategy to enter
Chicago. Of the last few Information Superglacier(TM) projects, we have relied
on Chicago technical and sales experts. I suspect that if the market had not
come to such a grinding halt in 2008, some of the topics that we may have been
discussing would be a hybrid fiber / 4G wireless system. This is the second
data center project and before the end of 2011, I expect two more.
Were I to suddenly appear in Chicago with new offices and a one or two year old
business, you would take me to task for not telling you about my activities
prior to arrival. If I brought a national model to Illinois to “cross the
digital divide” in urban and rural communities, you would chastise me for
holding back on a model which could have been developed in Illinois.
Whether I have been in my offices on LaSalle Street, lecturing in Osaka, or out
on the Information Superglacier(TM), I have always tried to keep you aware of
the development of broadband. The development of a capital architecture and
infrastructure approach can be replicated in many locations, so my efforts in
the hinterlands are just as valid as my efforts in NY, LA, or Chicago.
As part of my efforts to expand imaging technology between regions, I have
sought to integrate the 2D expertise from this area with the 3D expertise in
Illinois. I’m seeking to integrate the joint work of a few California
institutions to manage power consumption on the data center floor, even for a
small to mid sized data center. I’ll be working out of a NYSTAR Center of
Excellence and with a NYSTAR Center for Advanced Technology that has a track
record for producing $100 of economic activity for every NYSTAR dollar
invested. In short, we have developed a nice little sandbox for technology
development.
I expect only synergy as we enter markets in Illinois. Once the technology has
been developed, it is still an infrastructure initiative. Even startups in
these fields require millions of dollars in their early phases. When ready,
these companies have to enter the NY, California, Illinois markets in order to
make sales. Even in the early stages of maturity, an infrastructure company
MUST consider business entry into Chicago and other markets.
On anther note, I have done minimal travel in the past year. At the same time,
I wrote over a billion dollars in total project costs seeking a variety of
funding. The efforts have resulted in millions of dollars worth of funding for
clients dispersed all over America. I’ve been able to do all the work from my
offices in the Finger Lakes with a robust Internet connection. I’ve been able
to create jobs all over the country, and I rarely meet my clients face to
face. One of my projects in Chicago was a small private funding for WiMax in
Detroit. The client was not entirely sold on the concept until they asked the
University for the value of the WiMax contribution. Within a few more weeks,
the group applied for BTOP funding with help from the University and Sprint and
secured several more millions for technology and jobs.
One of the reasons that you report on technology is the ability to track the
development of technology that creates jobs and generates profits. Sometimes
things are good, sometimes you face the “Last Dance in an Empty Ballroom.”
This is the beginning of the next wild ride and the Illinois Decade may finally
be here.
__________________________________________
Gerald Murphy: Bioenergy Days and Acciona (on Wacker Drive), maker and operator
of wind farms, based in Spain
From: geraldlmurphy@att.net
Subject: Bioenergy Days;
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:04:56 -0500
To: ckolodziej1@comcast.net
Cc: geraldlmurphy@att.net, “The May Report” ron@themayreport.com
Hi Chet:
I noticed word in Ron May’s report about your upcoming Bio-energy Days and have
one or two ideas for your consideration.
My son, Rick is an exec with the Central U.S. office of Acciona (on Wacker
Drive), maker and operator of wind farms, based in Spain. Rick was in charge of
entitlements and construction management for a project between Rockford and
Galena.
The firm is one of the industry leaders world-wide and operates the referenced
farm My family and I enjoyed attending the Grand Opening last year. It was
very impressive and was attended by several hundred.
Consideration might be given to tour the wind farm and/or to schedule a company
presentation about that industry (at your Rockford meeting or at the farm).
Some or many of your delegates would also enjoy visiting historic Galena and Eagle
Ridge, a highly rated golf resort, further West of the wind farm.
There are commercial flights to and from Rockford. I don’t know schedules but
would be happy to get additional information to you about flights, the wind
farm and Galena.
Best wishes for a successful conference! In any event, you might want to
invite Acciona to attend the Rockford meeting.
Gerald Murphy
Cook County Chamber of Commerce
708-531-1117
_________________________________________
END OF REPORT